Jack lifted his rifle and sighted through his scope. Creeps lined the field, dozens of them. Banshees menacingly flew above them. Warrensburg was about to come under seige. Glass lowered his rifle, and smiled.

Hold fire was called to all Marines on the line. The Covenant assault was coming head on. A very proud Elite must have been leading the attack, or a very stupid one. They were moving straight toward the mines. A wave of Creeps slowly crept toward the desolate town of Warrensburg. A squadron of Banshees teasingly followed through the sky. Jack Glass just waited.
Jack's wiley green eyes darted back and forth through the Covenant ranks. They strained to count the amount of enemy vehicles. It was too much, and Jack loved it. The sun had gone down by now, and the night was quiet. Jack wondered why the Covenant hadn't brought artillery. Wraith tanks wreaked havok on defensive positions such as his. He wondered too, why they were moving so slowly. As though they were waiting for something, or someone, before the actual assault began.
Below Jack was Corporal Michael Tran from CAT 1. His squad was on patrol when the Covenant decided to drop in. Tran was standing on the side of his Warthog, BR55 rested on the hood for stability. His gunner was responsible for taking down the advance Banshees that attacked his patrol. That was nearly half an hour ago. No armor or Marines had arrived to support the defensive position as yet.

Tran chinned his COM, "HQ this is Odin-one-one, are you all sending anyone down here to help us out or what?"
"Odin-one-one what in the world are you talking about? What's going on down there?" HQ's response puzzled Tran.
"HQ we have Covenant inbound north by northeast, grid two-one-zero-five-five-eight, batallion sized element. Creeps and Banshees. Did you not receive my transmission? Over." Tran was furiated.
"That's a negative Odin-one-one. We have armor and infantry support on the way. You have air and mortar support if needed. How copy, over."
"That's a hard copy HQ. One-one, out." Tran reached into his cargo pocket and pulled out a laminated map of the town and surrounding areas. "Stupid fucking COM guys. Good for nothing POGs."

Air and mortar support was rare to have. Tran knew this and was going to take full advantage. First would be the mortars.
"Ef-oh this is Odin-one-one, we need a shake and bake at Charlie Alpha two-one-zero-six-five-five-eight-three. We've got vehicles in the open, batallion size element, friendlies at Charlie Alpha three-two-five-six-niner-one-niner-five. Fire for effect over." Tran checked the map once more to make sure he was reading it right.
Odin-one-one we read you. You've got sixty-two rounds, hi-ex and willie-pete incoming at two-one-zero-six-five-five-eight-three, roger over."
"Roger that ef-oh, you are cleared." Tran sighted through his scopes to watch the show.

Ninety-five millimeter mortar rounds tore through the sky above Tran, singing as they went. The impacts were beautiful. Some Creeps immediately exploded, killing any occupants, others were immobilized. White phosphorus rounds impacted soon after the high explosives. Creeps were covered with metal heated to ten thousand degrees. Covenant warriors still inside were cooked alive. Only a third of the Creeps were destroyed by the mortar strike. Banshees roared to life and accelerated towards the city, leaving the remaining vehicles unprotected.

Tran chinned his mic again, "Ef-oh this is Odin-one-one, direct hits. We need air support on same location. Come in from the north, they're unprotected, over."
"Roger one-one. Longsword tee-oh-tee, fourty-five seconds."

Tran took cover behind his Warthog. Chain guns and gauss cannons talked as the Banshees came in range. Plasma cannons replied eagerly. Marines on the rooftops locked onto the incoming fliers with their rocket launchers, and fired. The sky was a canvas of steel, fire, smoke, and death.
A pair of Longsword bombers arrived on time. Two-thousand pound bombs were dropped in the midst of the Creeps. The dirt exploded violently, sending a few troop transports airborne. Shrapnel radiated from the epicenter of the explosion. Creeps were ripped in half. The concussion of the blasts crushed the organs of the infantry inside many of the transports. A few of the Banshees turned to attack the Longswords. Concentrated fire took advantage of their weaker flank. All of the Creep's air support was destroyed and only half of the original attack force remained, but they kept coming.
The remaining ten Creeps started faster towards the Human defenses. Six of the Creeps pulled forward. The last four kept a steady pace, as though they were weighed down too much to move faster. The forwardmost Creeps formed into a wedge formation, closing toward the mine field. The lead Creep passes into the mine field and exploded. The front half of the transport was blown straight off. Shrapnel and concussion killed everything inside the vehicle.
The Covenant formation slowed and got on line before the wrecked Creep. Two pairs of Hunters jumped out of the inside of the transports and walked in front of the formation. Four green lights emitted from the Hunters as they charged their fuel rod cannons. Marines took cover anywhere they could to protect themselves from the attack. The Hunters instead aimed their weapons downward and released their pent up energy onto the ground. Dirt and rocks melted beneath the plasma onslaught. Mines triggered, creating great explosions. The pairs of Hunters traced a path straight towards the Human defenses. They walked along their glass path, creating more destruction ahead of them. The Creeps followed in a single file line, moving slow as the last four Creeps caught up.

Corporal Tran looked over the hood of his Warthog, "Holy shit, damn mines can't kill anything if you blow them up." He switched to the area freq. and chinned his mic. "Guns up! Take those Hunters down! Gunners open fire!"
With that, every mounted gun oriented on the two pairs of Hunters. Twelve point seven millimeter LAAG rounds pinged off their shields as gauss rounds slowed them a bit more. The four Hunters then switched targets and opened up on the Warthogs. A Warthog twenty meters down from Corporal Tran exploded in a green fury. Shrapnel cut into his arm, minorly wounding him. Tran grabbed the wound on his arm and sqeezed. He grabbed his rifle with is injured arm and chinned his mic.
"Get off the Warthogs!" He ran between the two houses behind him to take cover. His gunner must not have heard him, because he was still firing. "Johnson, damnit, get the fuck off that truck!" Tran yelled at the top of his lungs, but Johnson had a wry smile on his face. He couldn't hear anything, not Tran, not his gun, not even his own screams as he was seared in half by a Hunter.

Lance Corporal Jack Glass took cover as the Warthog below him blew up. He peeked back out after a second and took in the scenery. The gunner's top half was laying ten meters from the wreckage. A Marine was leaning against Jack's house, holding his arm, calling for a Corpsman. Jack looked out at the Hunters. They were back to shooting at mines.
None of the six Warthogs were intact. Jack zoomed in on the Creeps with his Battle Rifle. The lead Creep was partially damaged and seemed to have an internal fire. The last four were actually dragging their tail end on the ground. No wonder they were slower. Jack lowered his rifle and smiled again. Jack couldn't wait. Jack was ready. Jack wanted to kill.